CINCINNATI – His knees wrapped in ice, his nose cut and the sweat still dripping down his forehead, Kellen Dunham lumbered into the bitter cold Saturday afternoon, exiting the Cintas Center through a back hallway before catching the team bus. He was, for the first time all day, alone.

It was a luxury he could not attain over the previous two hours, no matter how many pump fakes he made, no matter how many screens he curled around, no matter how resolute Butler's star sophomore may have been. Xavier simply wouldn't have it.

It was the Musketeers' game plan, plain as day yet demanding in its execution: Stop Dunham, and you'll stop Butler. Teams have tried all season to do so; few have succeeded.

"We wanted to smell what type of gum he was chewing," was how Musketeers forward Justin Martin put it.

So they did. Everywhere Dunham went, Xavier went. They trailed his every move, they bodied him up, they refused to switch on screens. They made his life miserable.

It worked to the tune of a 79-68 victory for Xavier, a loss that drops Butler to 10-4 on the year and 0-2 in Big East play. Chief among the reasons the Bulldogs fell by their widest margin of defeat all season: Dunham, their top offensive threat, didn't get an open look at the basket all afternoon.

He still finished with 11 points, draining a few of the deep, contested jumpers that have become a staple of his growing offensive repertoire, but make no mistake: Nothing was open, nothing was easy.

Dogged by Xavier defender Dee Davis for much of it, Dunham missed five of his six shots in the second half and scored just two points. The Musketeers (12-3, 2-0 Big East) took advantage, using a 15-4 run over the final 6 minutes to seal the victory.

"I felt like there were so many guys on me all the time," Dunham said. "Towards the end of the game, I tried to create for my teammates more and just be aggressive, but they were kind of crowding me everywhere I went."

Such was Xavier's blueprint. In watching film, Musketeers coach Chris Mack marveled at Dunham's range and versatility. Dunham was so accurate, Mack said Saturday, that it reminded him of former Butler sharpshooter Rotnei Clarke.

Mack considers Dunham one of the best shooters in college basketball and he was determined not to let his long-range precision beat him. Purdue knows how lethal Dunham can be. Washington State knows. Mack didn't want to know.

"Some of the shots he makes, I don't even know how a guy can hit the rim," Mack said. "I don't even feel like he can see the basket. He's coming off (a screen) a thousand miles an hour. And he made a couple of those in the first half."

Guarded still, Dunham sank two from well beyond the 3-point arc in the first half that helped Butler push its lead to 42-37 at halftime. For the Bulldogs, it all went downhill from there: Xavier outscored them 42-26 over the final 20 minutes, leaning heavily on its dominant post game and stifling defense.

Butler wasn't Butler in the second half, at least not the Butler it wants to be. The Bulldogs coughed up 15 turnovers Saturday, tied for its second-highest total of the season. They were outscored by 12 points in the paint, by 10 off turnovers and by 13 off the bench. They shot 61 percent in the first half, just 31 percent in the second.

Dunham received help from Khyle Marshall (14 points) and Elijah Brown (10), but the Bulldogs couldn't come up with the stops and scores they needed late in the game.

"For us, it was a tale of two halves," said Butler coach Brandon Miller, whose team made just one field goal over the final 6 minutes. "We came out in the first half and executed. In the second half, on both ends of the floor, clearly we weren't good enough."

Xavier's scheme to slow Dunham offered a snapshot of what is to come. Teams will gear their game plan around stopping him because Xavier showed it could be done. Sixteen Big East games remain.

Moving forward, Butler must find a way to adapt. Otherwise, a long grind through the conference season awaits.